In Lordstown, an old auto plant reopens with a new face

LORDSTOWN, OHIO — Twenty years ago, this General Motors plant was humming with 10,000 men and women assembling vehicles within its expansive plant in the Mahoning Valley. Two years ago, they were still making cars, but those jobs had shrunk to 1,500, a slim fraction of that number, making the 6.2 million square foot building seem hollow and haunting.

Then came the news in the fall of 2018 that GM was shuttering the plant forever, and by March of last year, the last GM-made vehicle, a white Chevy Cruze LS with a black interior, rolled off the production line at the assembly line here.